


Forces Beyond Our Control

by Persiflage



Series: Cousy Fest 2k17 [8]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Cousy Fest 2k17, Episode 4:08, Episode Related, Eventual Romance, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, Light Angst, Older Man/Younger Woman, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Sad Sexy Baby Deer Phil Coulson, Slow Build, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 13:19:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10514568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Daisy discovers the truth of Phil's assertion that there are forces beyond their control bringing them together.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts), [Skyepilot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/gifts), [RowboatCop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowboatCop/gifts), [BrilliantlyHorrid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrilliantlyHorrid/gifts).



> Written for the Cousy Fest 2k17 for the Day 6 prompt 'Forces beyond our control'.

"Do you really think there are forces beyond our control driving us together?"

Coulson looks up from the tablet he's studying, his forehead wrinkling into familiar lines, and Daisy wonders when she started finding his frowns so cute. She quietly takes a deep breath, realising that she's never going to have nothing to lose so long as Phil Coulson is in this world.

"It did sound a bit like a romantic cliché, didn't it?" he says, his frown gone. He chuckles weakly. "Sorry. I do tend to – "

"Get overdramatic?" Daisy suggests, her tone teasing, because she can't resist – she's heard all about his melodramatic tendencies from both Billy and May.

"I was going to say 'carried away in the moment'," he says, faking a scowl – she knows it's fake because his eyes are full of laughter.

"Mmhmm." 

He rolls his eyes at her obvious scepticism, then smirks, and she moves to sit beside him on the couch, nudging his shoulder with hers. 

"Admit it, Phil, you're a bit of a drama queen."

He chuckles again, then bumps her shoulder with his. "Guilty as charged," he agrees, and he looks so happy and relaxed, despite the situation, that she feels the old guilt about walking away from SHIELD come rushing back. She doesn't know what her face is doing, but his expression goes suddenly serious, and he lifts his arm to wrap it carefully around her shoulders. "Hey," he says softly, squeezing her gently. "I meant it about you not having to stay once you've helped us find the Darkhold. If you feel you'll be able to do more good outside of SHIELD, you don't owe it to me or anyone else to stay. Okay?"

She nods, biting her lip, and wonders how Coulson can be so reasonable and understanding about this: no one else has been, not even Mack (and that had hurt a lot more than either Fitz or Jemma's lack of understanding), yet Coulson's acting as if it's no big deal that Daisy doesn't want to stay in SHIELD, that she's prepared to abandon her team again for her own selfish goals.

She feels tears pricking at her eyes, and she ducks her head, but then Coulson's hand cups her face, his thumb brushing her cheekbone.

"Daisy," he whispers, then leans in and presses his lips carefully to hers. 

It's totally unexpected, and yet it's not – on some levels it feels entirely right, the culmination of everything they've meant to each other, everything they've been through together. But a part of her is screaming that letting someone get this close to her again would be a death sentence, and she can't do that to Phil Coulson: he's too important. So she pulls back – although that's the last thing she wants to do – and he immediately looks stricken.

"I'm sorry, Phil," she says, reaching up to cup his face this time. "I can't do this – not right now." She can't bear to look at his beautiful, sad face, so she leans in and presses her forehead to his. "I'm sorry," she repeats. "I want this, but it's not something I can allow myself to have."

He wraps his arms around her, but leans back so he can see her face. "It's okay, Daisy. I get it." And she figures that if anyone could understand, it's him. "Whenever you decide that you can allow yourself to have this, just let me know. I'll wait."

"What if I decide I never can?"

He gives a little shrug. "We'll still be friends," he says. "That'll be enough."

She swallows hard, fighting not to cry, and wondering what on earth she's done to deserve a man as good as Phil Coulson.

DJ-PC-DJ-PC-DJ

It's over. The Framework is destroyed. Aida's been melted down, along with the other still existing LMDs. Daisy got everyone out of the Framework, although not everyone survived. She can't bring herself to care that much about Radcliffe's loss – he'd happily worked with Hive, as well as creating a murderbot and the Framework. She feels a bit bad on Jemma's behalf that Fitz didn't survive either, but most of her worry is for May, who's in a physically bad way after being trapped in the Framework for so long, and for Coulson: Aida had turned him into an Inhuman-hating HYDRA propagandist who was responsible for reporting a number of Inhuman students to HYDRA, all of whom wound up dead after being experimented on. And while none of it was real, it certainly _felt_ real enough (she can't forget her own reaction to her realisation that the Daisy of the Framework was with Ward – she'd wanted to quake him to atoms all over again).

In the forty-eight hours since they got out, Coulson's been conspicuous by his absence, and while Daisy has no intention of pushing him to interact with others before he feels ready to do so, she's worried about him, so she makes her way to his bunk, armed with beer and snacks, and the hope that he's ready to talk to her at least. 

She knocks on his door with her foot since her hands are full, and after a moment it opens, framing him in the opening. She scrutinises him carefully: he's dressed in sweatpants and an old SHIELD t-shirt, there are shadows in his eyes, and dark circles under them – he looks like he hasn't slept since she pulled him out of the Framework.

"Hey," she says softly. "Are you up for some company? I brought beer and snacks." She lifts the paper bag of unhealthy goodies in one hand, and the six pack of beer in the other, and gives him a tiny hopeful smile.

"Come in," he says, his voice sounding hoarse, as if he's been screaming. (She's pretty sure he hasn't actually been screaming – someone would've noticed that.) 

She steps inside, toes the door closed behind her, then walks across to set her offerings down on the small table in the corner of his bunk. Then she turns to where he's standing, looking awkward and unhappy, in the middle of the room.

"I'm not going to ask if you're okay," she tells him, "because it's obvious to me that you're not." She steps in close and wraps her hands around his upper arms – she feels the need to touch him, to reassure them both that they're real and safe (for the moment). "But if you want to talk, I can listen. Equally, if you'd rather just sit here and drink beer and eat snacks, we can do that."

"Daisy." It sounds plaintive, she thinks, and she takes the final step to close the distance between them, then wraps her arms around him.

"I've got you, Phil," she whispers, and feels him shudder. She backs him across to the bed, then sits down, still holding him. After a few moments she feels warm tears on her bare shoulder, and she manoeuvres them both around until they're lying side by side on the bed, his head on her shoulder.

"Go on, Phil, have a good cry. Let it all out," she urges him in a soft voice. 

He cries himself to sleep, and she doesn't mind one bit that he's fallen asleep in her arms, that her shoulder is damp with his tears: all that matters is that he feels secure enough with her here to sleep. She closes her own eyes and lets her thoughts drift, although she's still awake.

He starts having a nightmare after about three hours, so she reluctantly wakes him again, and he looks like he might cry all over again when he sees her face so close to his own.

"Sorry to wake you," she says softly. "You were having a nightmare."

He swallows, then says, "You were using your powers to quake me. I dreamt I was dying."

"Oh Phil." She cuddles him closer. "I would never do that to you."

"I know," he whispers.

"Good. Keep reminding yourself of that, okay."

"Okay."

"Do you want to try for some more sleep, or shall we grab a beer?"

"Beer, please."

They sit up, then Daisy pads over to the table to fetch the beer and snacks, and they settle on the bed, their backs against the wall, to drink and eat in a silence that feels companionable.

After two beers, Coulson says quietly, "I'm thinking of leaving."

His vibrations are full of tension, and she deliberately makes her voice light as she asks, "Permanently?"

"I don't know," he says. "Maybe."

"I wouldn't blame you if you did," she tells him, hoping that he knows she'd never try to persuade him to remain – after all, he told her not so long ago that she needn't remain in SHIELD if she didn't want to. "Things have been pretty messed up in the last year and a half."

"You could come with me," he says.

She turns her head slowly to look at him: the shadows in his eyes seem to have lessened a bit, and while he still looks like he needs at least a week's sleep, he somehow looks a little more like the Phil Coulson of old.

"If you want me to," she says.

"I want you," he says, then grimaces. "Sorry, I told myself I'd never tell you that – that I'd never put pressure on you about – "

She cuts him off by leaning in and pressing her mouth to his, and he makes a surprised noise, then goes to wrap his arms around her. Luckily he realises he's still holding the can of beer, and she chuckles as he pulls back. 

"I can do without the beer bath, thanks Phil," she teases, and he actually smiles, which makes her grin. 

As soon as he's set the can aside, she wraps her arms around him and tugs him down to lie beside her, then lets him kiss her, eagerly opening her mouth under his. She slips her hand under his t-shirt and lightly drags her nails down his spine, eliciting a gasp of her name, before he presses his hand between her thighs. 

"Oh god, Phil," she mutters. "More."

He pulls back to look her in the eyes, and she stares back. She doesn’t know what he sees in her eyes, but he seems satisfied because he unfastens her pants, then eases his hand into her panties. Her body throbs with want as he thumbs her clit, then she moans as he eases a finger between her lips.

"Yes, Phil," she gasps, clutching his body to hers as he works a second finger inside her.

"So wet," he murmurs.

"Yes."

His fingers feel enormous inside her, and her body writhes beneath his as he gradually works her to an intense orgasm that leaves her gasping for breath.

"Wow," she says stupidly once she gets her breath back. He smirks, and she thinks he must be feeling better if he can smirk at her like that. So she grabs his shoulders and rolls him onto his back, pinning him to the bed, and he looks up at her with such a trusting expression that she feels a bit like weeping.

Instead, she leans down and kisses him, open-mouthed and dirty, until he's breathless, then she drags his sweatpants down his legs, exposing his rampant erection. She can't help licking her lips when she sees him, and she quickly sheds her jeans and panties, then drags off her tank as well, tossing it to the floor with the rest of their clothes.

"Daisy." He groans her name once she's naked, and she smirks at the way he clasps the base of his cock, as if to stop himself from shooting off before she can get him inside her.

"Okay?" she asks.

"C'mere," he says, his voice husky, and she feels a throb between her legs at the look in his eyes. 

She settles on top of him, his cock pressed between their bodies, the tip smearing pre-cum across their bellies. 

"I never thought you'd want me like this," he says in a low voice, and she huffs a laugh that earns her a raised eyebrow.

"Likewise, Phil," she tells him. "I thought I wasn't sophisticated or elegant enough for you."

He looks pained by her words. "You don't have to be elegant or sophisticated – you're Daisy."

She raises an incredulous eyebrow. "Really, Phil?"

"Of course." He's so sincere it almost hurts.

She shakes her head slightly. "Bureaucrat boy has it bad for the superhero girl," she teases, and he blushes in the most delightful manner.

"C'mere," he repeats, and reaches between them to try to get his cock into her, so she lifts her hips, and helps him guide it inside her. He seems enormous, and she can feel her walls stretching to accommodate him, but it feels so good. Once he's buried to the hilt inside her she tightens her muscles around him, making him groan, then she begins to move.

She comes twice before he lets himself go, and she somehow always knew that about him – that he'd be the kind of guy to make a girl come more than once before he allowed himself to come too.

They clean themselves up after a bit of snuggling and kissing – and it somehow doesn't surprise her that he's the kind of guy who'd be into post-coital cuddles – then they settle under the covers, lying on their sides facing each other.

"Don't let us fucking stop you from leaving SHIELD, if that's what you think will be best for you."

He grimaces. "Part of me doesn't want to leave," he tells her, and she gives a sharp nod – she knows all about that as she had the same feelings before she left after everything that went down with Hive.

"But another part of you thinks you should," she suggests, and he nods this time. "Perhaps you should just take some time off, like May did before – " She stops and swallows, and his tightens his arms around her.

"Perhaps we both should?" he says. "Together."

"I'd like that," she tells him, though she feels a bit shy about admitting that – which is pretty lame, considering they've just had sex. "I've still got a place in Wisconsin." She swallows, slightly nervous at making the suggestion, though she's not sure why.

"Near – "

"Cal." She grimaces. "Dr Winslow, yeah – and Polly and Robin Hinton."

"That sounds nice," he says. He kisses her a bit, then asks, "Would you still want to go after Watchdogs?"

"I won't unless they come after me," she says. "it wouldn't be much of a break if I was running off after them every five minutes."

"I don't want to get in the way of you looking out for your people, though."

Daisy smiles. _Trust Phil Coulson_ , she thinks. Only he would worry about that when he should be worrying about himself.

"We'd deal," she tells him, and he nods, apparently satisfied with that answer. She begins kissing him again, wondering what it'd be like to live with Phil in a house like an ordinary couple, to do ordinary things, like go shopping for groceries. It'll be very domestic, but she reckons she can cope with that – doing domestic with Phil Coulson. The idea makes her smile.


End file.
